A fire broke out on board the Ocean Drover whilst docked at number 1 berth in Fremantle port this morning befor 8.00 AM. Thankfully no animals had yet been loaded, despite the ship having been in dock since 3 October. It has been reported that livestock trucks were removed from the dock due to the possibility of toxic smoke, so loading must have been imminent.

Apparently the fire broke out in crew's quarters -we hope they are all safe and accounted for.

Had this happened 24 hours later, or at sea, the outcome could have been catastrophic. There have been countless livestock ship disasters at sea which have seen thousands of animals die - from less than a hundred to the entire shipment - some from weather events, some from ventialtion breakdown, some from drowning, and these two (that we know about) from fire:

1980 The total cargo (40,605 sheep) perish in a fire aboard the Farid Fares.

1996 67,488 sheep died when fire broke out on board the Uniceb; 8 days elapsed before any rescue attempt was made.

Live animal export is not only inherently cruel, it is inherently risky; placing animals at increased risk for increased profit is just not morally justifiable.

We would speculate that the ship would now not be inhabitable without repairs and imagine that the cattle that were due to be loaded, bound for Indonesia, will be returned to the feedlot to await another Wellard vessel. The Ocean Outback is currently in Singapore and the Ocean Swagman in China. KL

Four Corners - The Shocking Truth behind the Live Export Industry

If you were shocked along with the rest of Australia regarding the treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesia, this is your time to get involved. We have outlined some easy things you can do. Our Campaign Manager is standing by to help, so please feel free to contact Jodie on jodie@stopliveexports.org

1. Contact the Prime Minister

Let Julia Gillard know that you think this treatment of Australian animals is completely unacceptable and you want the see the trade in cattle to Indonesia suspended immediately along with an overall end date to live animal exports. The most powerful way to be heard is an individually written letter. Please feel free to ask for help with this. The PM's contact details are:

In your letter, to avoid a standard response that is generated by a computer, be sure to ask specific questions. Questions could include asking about Government spending on live exports, how they could possibly trust anything the industry says and what is being done about local jobs. Please ask us for help.

3. Social Media

Please use Twitter (#BanLiveExport) and Facebook to get the message out there to all your friends and family.

4. Dedicated Animals Australia and RSPCA Website

Check out the dedicated website put together by Animals Australia and RSPCA here

7. Stay in Touch

Join up to our newsletter (we only send 1-2 per month about how to help, events and heaps more) by clicking here or stay in touch via Facebook. You can also unsubscribe at any time.

8. Join Us

You can help keep the campaign in alive in WA by becoming a member of Stop Live Exports, a grass-roots group that has been campaigning for an end to this trade for many years! We have a huge volunteer base that is getting the message out to the community, media and politicians. Click here to join. A good strong membership sends a message to decision makers that this is an important issue.

If you missed Four Corners, it will be replayed on Tuesday 31st May ay 11.35pm and Saturday 4th June at 8pm on ABC News 24. You can also see a replay at http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/